Zee Khan

Spoilers ahead!!! It felt flat. The beginning started off well, the readers get a sense that something might go awry which helps with the introduction of some of the characters. Where I think the author went wrong would be writing the book in third person. I understand that third person writing allows for suspense and a chance for unreliable narrators, but I think this might’ve been more effective if it was written in first person. As a reader, I felt myself feeling bored while turning the pages, I started skimming the texts- not out of curiosity or excitement, rather because I wanted to know where it was going. The reveal of Marco kidnapping Cora was incredibly bleak, there was zero build up- which I suspect might’ve been for the suspense, but I was unimpressed. Similarly, the reveal of Richards involvement was bland as well. It didn’t excite me and I felt that it came at a rather “weird” part of the story. Moreover, there was minimal character development or expansion!! This is particular to Cynthia and Graham’s characters. Okay, we read that Graham is voyeur and he doesn’t want the recording to get out. But, he only says it once to Cynthia. It doesn’t align with his desperation or fear of his character being questioned. Neither does it make sense as Cynthia’s character is portrayed to be egotistical and callous; she would need to be told more than once. Again, his character is never mentioned again! Not even after Cynthia and Richard’s affair is revealed. Another display of bad writing. Furthermore, the ending felt completely unnecessary- unless it’s leading to a sequel- but again it felt rushed and put in just for the sake of showing Anne’s disorder. Overall, I felt the book to be rather boring, despite a promising start. If I had to state the colour scheme of this book, it would be a monotonous grey!! Deeply lacklustre and vapid as well rushed somehow. Maybe changing the writing to first person and additionally adding the perspectives of Alice more, would have made it it slightly better. Nevertheless, I think a 1 star rating is adequate.